I would like to see Joe public name 1 WR Elway had prior to Rod and Easy Ed. It says a little something about the man when he didn’t really have weapons until ’96. So yea, I think he did pretty good.

Criticism over their Careers

I think it’s safe to say that Favre has enjoyed being the media darling of the MSM for the majority of his career. Elway, though respected and given ample praise by those who knew football, was constantly criticized for failing to win the big game until 97-99. I have no doubt that if Brett had to deal with the media criticism and scorn John did, we would’ve seen more pouting from #4 and not nearly the resolve that John displayed.

The Numbers Game

I think baseball has hard-wired us to overly stress the importance of statistical performance over a better assessment of a player that accounts for: wins, surrounding talent, offensive/defensive scheme, coaching, injuries, etc. Of course the latter takes real analysis and effort. The former takes a quick “cut & paste” from the NFL stats book. Futhermore, it’s difficult to compare numbers against players from different eras. To make my point, I had to laugh this season when the talking heads were praising Brees as he chased Marino’s passing yardage record. What they failed to point out is that the rules have significantly changed since Dan played, thus making it easier for these old records to fall. Not trying to take anything away from Bress, but you’re comparing apples to orangaes IMO. And another point, what the hell does it matter if you throw for 10,000 yards in a season and still fail to make the playoffs? Whoop-de-doo!

That being said, Elway’s numbers will pale in comparison to many QBs. Fact is, though, he won and more importantly won when it matter with very little talent around him. Again, if all things being equal, who do you draft #1 overall if John and Brett were 24 and coming out of college this year? Exactly….

IMO humble opinion, the only QBs I’ll debate QB greatness over against John are Montana, Moon, and Marino. I’m biased and will always argue for John, but I’ll at least listen to others debate the greatness of those other QBs. As for present day QBs, the only one I’ll even discuss is Brady.

Brett keeps trying to regain the luster he had a decade ago.

Brett winning the SB in 96 is why he escaped the media criticism. It was still early in his career.

Eventually, you just reach the point where you realize that anyone who plays for the Broncos is handicapped by not being on the east coast. As much as I hate the cliche, it is what it is. It’s always been that way and it’ll always be that way. Only Bronco fans will ever realize the greatness of Floyd Little, Randy Gradishar, Terrell Davis, Shannon Sharpe, Tom Nalen, and, yes, even John Elway.